As I mentioned earlier, Mike Melvill will be the first civilian ever awarded astronaut's wings (at least that's what they keep saying on MSNBC). However, he is not the first civilian pilot ever to qualify for astronaut's wings, as explained here.
UPDATE: Reader Scott Janssens points out that Neil Armstrong was a civilian while in the space program. He didn't "earn his wings" while flying the X-15 (never quite made it to space), but I suppose he took some small consolation in being the first man on the moon.
Posted by Phil at June 21, 2004 09:28 AM | TrackBack